Dry miombo woodlands
Dry miombo woodlands | |
---|---|
Ecology | |
Realm | Afrotropical |
Biome | Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands |
Borders | List
|
Geography | |
Area | 1,185,632 km2 (457,775 sq mi) |
Countries | |
Rivers | Congo, Cuanza, Cunene, Limpopo, Okavango, Pangani, Rufiji, Ruvuma, and Save, and Zambezi |
Conservation | |
Protected | 291,385 km2 (25%)[1] |
The dry miombo woodlands is an ecoregion in Africa. It has an area of 1,185,632 square kilometres (457,775 sq mi), covering portions of Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Angola.[2][3]
Climate
The dry miombo woodlands have a seasonal tropical climate.
Flora
Dry miombo is an open woodland of mostly deciduous trees, typically less than 15 meters tall with 30 to 60% cover. There shrubs and saplings form a discontinuous understory along with scattered understory trees, and grasses, forbs and
Species of
Fauna
The dry miombo woodlands are home to large mammals, including African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana), black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis), African buffalo (Syncerus caffer), plains zebra (Equus quagga), greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), common eland (Taurotragus oryx), and Sharpe's grysbok (Raphicerus sharpei), and the carnivores lion (Panthera leo), leopard (Panthera pardus), spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), and African wild dog (Lycaon pictus). Many grazing species rely on adjacent ecoregions, whether forests or flooded grasslands, to provide seasonal food, water, and/or shelter during dry season droughts and fires.[3]
The ecoregion is rich in bird species, with few
Conservation
291,385 square kilometres (112,504 sq mi), or 25%, of the dry miombo woodlands is in protected areas.[1] Protected areas include Mavinga National Park in Angola, Niassa Reserve in Mozambique, Nyerere National Park and Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania, and Sioma Ngwezi National Park in Zambia.
References
- ^ a b Eric Dinerstein, David Olson, et al. (2017). An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience, Volume 67, Issue 6, June 2017, Pages 534–545; Supplemental material 2 table S1b. [1]
- ^ Eric Dinerstein, David Olson, et al. (2017). An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience, Volume 67, Issue 6, June 2017, Pages 534–545, [2]
- ^ a b c d e Martin, Emma and Neil Burgess. Dry Miombo Woodlands. One Earth. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
- ^ a b c Ribeiro, N.S., Silva de Miranda, P., Timberlake, J. (2020). Biogeography and Ecology of Miombo Woodlands. In: Ribeiro, N.S., Katerere, Y., Chirwa, P.W., Grundy, I.M. (eds) Miombo Woodlands in a Changing Environment: Securing the Resilience and Sustainability of People and Woodlands. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50104-4_2